Looking to re-Chrome? BEWARE of.......

[QTR MILE]

I really need to share my story of a Chrome buisness in Middletown, PA called LeBrandi's Medal Plating... What is B/S buisness this is.

I dropped off my Chrome for my 58 Plymouth Fury at this place on my way to Chrysler's at Carlisle(Thurs) packed in bubble wrap, boxed and baggied all very small part's very nicely. About 2 week's after Carlisle I received a call from them with a quote... $12,300.00!!! I asked if they had the right customer and they did. I could not believe the price for Dent and Rust, driver quality Chrome off my Arizona, garaged Fury.

I was at Librandi's this past Friday and extremely pissed off. These Guy's inspected my part's and threw them back in the boxes w/o the bubble wrap and packaged the way I gave everything to them. These Guy's also kept my blanket's that my bumper's were wrapped in. The horn's that were media blasted, returned rusted all over and their Guy's took them apart, never putting them back together?

In several Email's prior to returning there, they promised me that my part's were going to be packaged up the way I gave it to them and undamaged. My horn button has a dent on it from throwing all those part's in that one box.:angryfire:

It is bad enough that I waisted 3 hour's of driving 3 time's, gas, toll's and my time only for these Guy's to attempt to rip me off by charging me $12,300.00 for 109 pcs of which 103 can fit inside my hand, never sending an itemized estimate although I was promised, Part's packaged pooly and a damaged Part.

I left a message for the Owner while I was there on Friday and these Guy's were at a Corvette Show. I never received a call back or apology. That just goes to show what poor buisness People they are. It's ok, I am a Member of 17 Car Club's and an Admin and Mod's of several. I will share my experience's with LiBrandi's.

Stay Clear!

Joe C NY

 

[Propwash]

Man, sorry to hear it......So many crooked folks out there it's hard to ever wake up in a good mood again.

 

[Budnicks]

Sorry to here that, good luck with the next plater

 

[Donny]

Wow, that sucks. I at lots of times in my business ask myself would I pay this for that? Meaning, I put myself in the customers shoes, 12,300 dollars seems high! Wow.

 

[bigmanjbmopar]

That's grounds for some pay back, i will fly out there lets go get some! dirty bastards need top be shown the boot in the *** trick

Write a bad review for them on yelp they will see it and respond
http://www.yelp.com/biz/librandis-machine-shop-inc-middletown

 

[Pistol Pete]

Wow. I've never used Librandis myself, but have heard they have (had?) a decent reputation. Sorry to hear that may be misinformation. During your search I'm sure you've heard of Advanced Plating (TN). I just got some stuff back from them and couldn't be happier with the results.

 

[62MAX]

From past experience with Librandi's,they are by far one of the more expensive but also one of the best.I just had a friend drop 10K at Paul's for the rechromed parts for his 64 Comet.Both of the above mostly do show chrome,you get what you pay for.If you don't want to pay their price,you have other choices.:icon_neutral:


And for what it's worth,the 10K at Paul's was for 27 pieces including two bumpers.

 

[QTR MILE]

From past experience with Librandi's,they are by far one of the more expensive but also one of the best.I just had a friend drop 10K at Paul's for the rechromed parts for his 64 Comet.Both of the above mostly do show chrome,you get what you pay for.If you don't want to pay their price,you have other choices.:icon_neutral:


And for what it's worth,the 10K at Paul's was for 27 pieces including two bumpers.

WOW! That is outrageous!!! NO car has $10-$12,300 in Chroming. It is total B/S for both LiBrandi's and Paul's. No wonder Folk's leave the sh*t the way it is or Paint it. These Companies know not to many Folk's are Chroming so they figure they can screw ya. As far as "You get what you pay for".... No you do not not, I have $5-7K worth of small stuff and your telling me it's worth $12,300? The car was not that amount.

Not for nothing... They threw all my part's in Boxes like garbage once they did not get the job causing my Rare Horn button to get dented! They are over rated, over priced and j*rk*ff's. them!!!!!

 

[iraqivet01]

Paul's chrome plater want $850 just for my power bulge hood emblems. The painted area, I was going to be charged another $150 each to clean up those area. I had them mailed back, Got it one plated and buffed out here in OKC for $200.

 

[62MAX]

Once again,you get what you pay for.Both of the above mentioned do probably 95% show chrome.I woild guess that most muscle cars don't end up with show chrome.The people with high dollar vintage collector cars can afford the cost and could care less as long as the quality of the work is to their standards.Evidently Librandi's and Paul's charges are acceptable to most as they both have good reputations as to work and they have no lack of it.I guess you could compare it to paint.I can get a car painted for under 4K or spend 15K on the same car,I doubt they would be the same when finished.It is your choice as to what you as an individual want to spend or realisticly can afford,nobody holds a gun to you head !!

 

[QTR MILE]

That is very true "62Max" however when us real Classic Car People need this service there is NO labor that can compare to a $12-15K paint/body work, especially Chroming. These companies know not alot of Buisnesses do this work anymore therefore they take advantage of the Hobbiest's and it is B/S. It is just not right. No Chroming call's for this kind of money, none! Anybody that spend's $12-15K in Chrome like what small part's I have is an idiot IMO. They allow themselve's to be abused. If we all stuck together, the price's would become realistic and fair.

 

[ws27]

I'm not trying to defend Labrandis, but keep in mind that EPA regulations have caused the cost of Chrome plating to almost double in the past few years. Tri City Plating used to be $240.00 per bumper, they are somewhere near $500.00 now. A friend of mine was quoted that for each 67 Coronet bumper. I know it doesn't help and certainly doesn't excuse the way they repackaged your parts but it might help bring the cost into perspective a little.

 

[65 Plymouth Satellite 426]

I really need to share my story of a Chrome buisness in Middletown, PA called LeBrandi's Medal Plating... What is B/S buisness this is.

I dropped off my Chrome for my 58 Plymouth Fury at this place on my way to Chrysler's at Carlisle(Thurs) packed in bubble wrap, boxed and baggied all very small part's very nicely. About 2 week's after Carlisle I received a call from them with a quote... $12,300.00!!! I asked if they had the right customer and they did. I could not believe the price for Dent and Rust, driver quality Chrome off my Arizona, garaged Fury.

I was at Librandi's this past Friday and extremely pissed off. These Guy's inspected my part's and threw them back in the boxes w/o the bubble wrap and packaged the way I gave everything to them. These Guy's also kept my blanket's that my bumper's were wrapped in. The horn's that were media blasted, returned rusted all over and their Guy's took them apart, never putting them back together?

In several Email's prior to returning there, they promised me that my part's were going to be packaged up the way I gave it to them and undamaged. My horn button has a dent on it from throwing all those part's in that one box.:angryfire:

It is bad enough that I waisted 3 hour's of driving 3 time's, gas, toll's and my time only for these Guy's to attempt to rip me off by charging me $12,300.00 for 109 pcs of which 103 can fit inside my hand, never sending an itemized estimate although I was promised, Part's packaged pooly and a damaged Part.

I left a message for the Owner while I was there on Friday and these Guy's were at a Corvette Show. I never received a call back or apology. That just goes to show what poor buisness People they are. It's ok, I am a Member of 17 Car Club's and an Admin and Mod's of several. I will share my experience's with LiBrandi's.




Stay Clear!

Joe C NY

Thanks For Warning Us Guys Here In South Central PA!

 

[1969CoronetR/T]

Pauls charged me over $1,000.00 per bumper. They did great, timely work and I have no complaints. He did quote me upon visual inspection of the parts.

 

[Moparparts]

I get all my chrome done at AIH in Iowa. They are the only company i know of that has a transferable lifetime guarantee and it is show chrome but again expensive. Last one sent in was my brothers front for a 69 Z-28 which was around $700. I have had some of their chrome on my cars for over 20 years and it is still excellent.

 

[patrick66]

I know a guy locally that dropped over $100K (yes, one hundred grand!) on chrome work for his 1957 Chrysler 300C. Chrome is no longer "cheap" and hasn't been for two decades.

 

[HawkRod]

I am not trying to defend (or not) LeBrandi's here. I have also heard that they have an excellent reputation for top notch work. I was considering them but ended up with Tri-City (and they did a nice job on my Road Runner bumpers).

Keep in mind that there are two key costs with plating: One is the plating process itself. Since this is environmentally "dirty", EPA (and very possibly state) rules have driven up the rules and requirements, and thus the cost.

The second part of the cost is the manual labor involved. Chrome is only as good as the unchromed part. If the part is dented, warped, rusted, etc., then all that stuff needs to be fixed. I have heard that places like Paul's and LeBrandi's only do top notch work, because they don't want to risk complaints about the parts when they are done. So it takes the labor hours at whatever $$$ per hour to do all the time intensive welding, grinding, straightening, etc. to make the core pretty much perfect show quality and ready for the chroming process.

Having said all that, it is complete BS that they did not package up the parts just as carefully and appropriately as they were delivered. If they provide a quote and a customer cannot or does not want to afford the price, they need to ensure the parts are protected on their way back...

 

[hunt2elk]

I was considering them but ended up with Tri-City (and they did a nice job on my Road Runner bumpers).

I went with Tri-City from recommendations and cost. They were by far the cheapest I could find for my Charger bumpers. Don't know if I was just unlucky, but mine are terrible. Waves and sanding scratches everywhere. They have redone the bumperettes twice now. Once for a broken stud and more recently the chrome chipped off 2 of them when I installed them. I know I will never use them or recommend them to anyone. I guess next time I will spend a little more money and get better quality work.

 

[steve from staten island]

What ever happened to estimates? Still you can get ripped off and i think we all got ripped off at one time or another. I work for guys in certain fields as a welder. I do whatever it takes to get the job done and done right,i never once overcharged or ripped a guy off and when its done to me i go crazy about it. I do know chrome got expensive but you bring a part in thats in decent condition it should not be a mystery as what the cost will be and if the guy does good work then there should be no worries. If a shop does a bumper and its less then perfect they should do it till its right. I spent many a night re-doing a job i was not happy about. But when i got in my truck to go home i was satisfied with my work,i still made money and i slept good that night. Today nobody cares its all about a buck, its hard to find anybody who still puts pride in workmanship before profit. That being said i exchanged my two bumpers one in decent shape the other had a dent for two rechromed original ones. The chrome was as good as when it came out of the factory and thats good enough for me. Spent 500 apiece for them

 

[snakeoil24]

I really need to share my story of a Chrome buisness in Middletown, PA called LeBrandi's Medal Plating... What is B/S buisness this is.

I dropped off my Chrome for my 58 Plymouth Fury at this place on my way to Chrysler's at Carlisle(Thurs) packed in bubble wrap, boxed and baggied all very small part's very nicely. About 2 week's after Carlisle I received a call from them with a quote... $12,300.00!!! I asked if they had the right customer and they did. I could not believe the price for Dent and Rust, driver quality Chrome off my Arizona, garaged Fury.

I was at Librandi's this past Friday and extremely pissed off. These Guy's inspected my part's and threw them back in the boxes w/o the bubble wrap and packaged the way I gave everything to them. These Guy's also kept my blanket's that my bumper's were wrapped in. The horn's that were media blasted, returned rusted all over and their Guy's took them apart, never putting them back together?

In several Email's prior to returning there, they promised me that my part's were going to be packaged up the way I gave it to them and undamaged. My horn button has a dent on it from throwing all those part's in that one box.:angryfire:

It is bad enough that I waisted 3 hour's of driving 3 time's, gas, toll's and my time only for these Guy's to attempt to rip me off by charging me $12,300.00 for 109 pcs of which 103 can fit inside my hand, never sending an itemized estimate although I was promised, Part's packaged pooly and a damaged Part.

I left a message for the Owner while I was there on Friday and these Guy's were at a Corvette Show. I never received a call back or apology. That just goes to show what poor buisness People they are. It's ok, I am a Member of 17 Car Club's and an Admin and Mod's of several. I will share my experience's with LiBrandi's.

Stay Clear!

Joe C NY

Joe take them to small claims court you have a good case. Sue for travel time, miss handeling since their business deals with fragile parts you will have a good case.